Chapter 7 - Relating to German and Soviet Power

Summary

Chapter 7 takes on the complex question of how people related to the new configuration of political power in northwest Russia. Conceptually inspired by Alf Lüdtke’s term Eigensinn as well as social history work by Jan Gross and Tanja Penter, the chapter explores the ways in which ordinary people supported, harnessed, subverted, and evaded German as well as Soviet claims to power in the occupied territories. The chapter shows how the substantial degree of popular support experienced by the German regime was partly rooted in a patriotic desire to rid Russia of Stalinist rule. As for the Soviet partisans, their insurgency was hardly a popular movement before late 1943, when the German army began to retreat and thousands flocked to the partisans in a massive rejection of German authority. While this general shift of allegiance was eased by a growing realization of the colonial ambitions of the Nazis, power realism was the decisive mover. When push came to shove, most people turned to a tactic of calculated pragmatism, shifting their loyalties as needed, heeding the orders of the stronger power at any given moment.